Sunday, January 30, 2022

Random Nonsense.

 In less than 48 hours, my layover in Detroit went from being two hours long to over eight. This takes my return trip from 16 hours to 24. Argh. 

Seems to have been a short lived cold and that I am already on the down hill side of it. (Yay!)

Here's something I'm curious about. I've had my phone for two years now. Even after all that time, I am still getting text messages about CBD gummies and oil, diabetes treatment and (worst of all), offers that note my girlfriend is unhappy and that I need to try some product they're hawking. I hate the latter because they are vulgar, shockingly so. (No. I am not a prude.) They are all addressed to 'James' who evidently had my number before it became my number. In a strange set of small town coincidences, I know young James. I used to work with his father. 

Now these texts arrive with a flag that suggests they might be spam, and I am given the option to mark them as such and block the number. Seems easy enough. But they continue to flood in from different numbers. To my way of thinking, this means that the phone company is aware that these are spam, but is giving the customer the opportunity to decide whether or not they are interested in the products. So...why is there not some way to block these numbers. Why can I not say, for instance that I want to block anything that contains 'CBD' or 'James' or 'diabetes' or 'squirt' or 'f---'? 

Just a question that I've got. It sounds stupid perhaps, but I'm not a big phone talker. Most of my texts are junk. A couple weekends ago, I was marking and blocking phone numbers and was surprised to see a flurry of calls come in, one right after another, for the same products from different numbers. I seriously could not keep up with them. 

It is still single digit cold here. The fire is still going here. This week, the temperatures are supposed to get above freezing, and I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to the break in weather. 



10 comments:

  1. It does seem like someone should develop the technology to block texts containing certain words. I am mercifully lucky on this front -- I never get spam on my phone. Maybe UK laws are better about preventing it.

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  2. You need caller ID. Then don't answer any calls or look at any texts you don't recognize. They will stop .

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  3. my cell phone automatically id's the caller number info. I have never answered the phone if I don't recognize the number. This has been going on for two years. When does it stop, do you think?

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  4. Fighting phone spam seems pretty useless. I think even blocking numbers makes it worse as spam systems will know there is a human doing that. It is a problem that I am sure will be sorted in time.

    Make the most of Detroit, lol.

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  5. I have a foolproof way of dealing with phone spam. It works every time for me. I have never owned a portable, personal phone (cellphone, smartphone etc.). Maybe one day I will regret this choice but so far I have got by perfectly well without one in spite of the widespread assumption that it is impossible to live without a bloody mobile phone!

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  6. I don’t get text spam. Is it my provider that keeps me isolated? I guess not. I suspect it is Apple. I don’t know these things.

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  7. Years ago, I made the decision to keep my cellphone number sacred. I never ever put it on any online forms. I only give out my landline phone number that is connected to an answering machine and the ringer is turned off. I only give out my cell number to close friends who may have need to contact me at some point. I just check the answering machine on the landline a couple times a week and return calls if necessary but these days, there is rarely a message left on it, they are all hangups.

    Doing this has paid off. I can count the number of spam calls or texts I get per year on one hand. They are more than likely bots that are dialing every combination of number and impossible to avoid.

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  8. Spam Likely checks in on us daily, Bless him/her. *ha ha ha* Sorry to hear your delays made everything about Air Travel that much more complicated.

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  9. Only family has been given my cell number. (Truth be told, I've only begun recently to be able to remember the number without looking. These texts are all coming in the name of the previous number holder.

    I was required to have a cell phone when I worked for the county, so that was my first. After that...well...I just never used the thing. I bought another two years ago when I began making the five hour trip to the eastern side of the state alone. Tim did not want me to be on the road without a way to get help if I needed it.

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  10. I've pretty much done the same thing as Ed describes doing. Ironically, my landline phone company who should know better texted my landline, assuming it was a cell phone, I guess. My smart phone is not with their company.

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